The Roman Army
Find out how the most organised army in the world maintained their power.   The Roman Army had many similarities with a modern army today. It was extremely well organised, equipped and disciplined. One of the reasons for the Roman Empires success was because of this excellent organisation. In battle everyone had their place and knew what to do. Because of this, when the Roman army met forces much bigger than them they usually won.

The Army was organised like this:-

THERE WERE 8 MEN IN A TENT PARTY

10 TEN PARTIES MADE UP A CENTURY (80)

6 CENTURIES WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE A COHORT (480)

10 COHORTS WERE THEN PUT TOGETHER TO MAKE A LEGION (4800)

To join the Roman Army was a great honour and just like in a modern army you would sign up for a certain length of time. Today you sign up for 3, 4 or 5 years. Then you signed up for 20! Once in there was no leaving.

What about discipline?

Well, if you were on duty and you left your post without permission, you had better not let the Legatus (man in charge of the legion) know. The punishment in stoning to death by the rest of your tent party!

Originally only Roman citizens could be in the army. But as the empire spread it needed to increase its size. One option was to build up the auxiliary army. These could gain citizenship by serving the Roman army for 25 years. The problem with these people however, was that these people were not as loyal to Rome as genuine citizens.

So why did the Roman Empire need such a big army? Well, they wanted to take more and more land to expand the area and the wealth of the empire. It was not just necessary to have an army to capture this land but it was needed to police it and keep the new territories safe and loyal to Rome.

One thing that put the Romans at a great advantage in battle was the way the legionaries were trained to keep to a plan. It was not a case of every man for himself but a calculated idea of all working together. The Tetsudo or tortoise was a great example. The soldiers would protect each other by joining their shields together. It was said to be so strong that a horse and cart could run over it without hurting the men inside.

This ability to keep well disciplined paid off in AD43 when the Romans invaded Britain under Emperor Claudius. At the River Medway in Kent the outnumbered Romans used their crack soldiers called batavians to swim across the river and out-maneuver the British. It showed how a smaller group of well trained men will always have an advantage over poorly trained people who do not act in a team.

 

 

The Roman soldier on the left is wearing the most up-to-date equipment that was available at the time. His helmet or casius protected his head, cheeks and neck, while his armour or lorica segmentata was hinged to give both protection and maneuverability. His shield or scutum was made of wood and leather with a metal boss to hit the enemy with. His javelin or pilum had a soft metal neck so that when it stuck in the enemies shield it would bend and make it useless to throw back. 

On the right you can see the tortoise or testudo. When Roman soldiers were under attack they could lock their shields together like this and protect each other. It was said that the testudo was strong enough to take the weight of a horse and chariot running over it!

The auxiliary soldier was someone who was not a citizen. By fighting for the empire they could get citizenship. In battle these soldiers were always seen as the most suitable for loss. So they were put in the most dangerous situations.
To see more about the Battle of Medway click here